How you can use this image
This image is available to be shared and re-used under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike licence (CC BY-NC-SA).
This image can be reproduced in any way but your use of it cannot be for any kind of commercial purpose. Any work you create using this image must also be
Wherever you reproduce the image or an altered version of it, you must attribute the original creators (acknowledge the original artist(s), the person/organisation that took the photograph of the work) and any other stated rights holders.
Review our guidance pages which explain how you can reuse images, how to credit an image and how to find more images in the public domain or with a Creative Commons licence available.
DownloadNotes
Add or edit a note on this artwork that only you can see. You can find notes again by going to the ‘Notes’ section of your account.
‘Long after ill health forced his retirement in August 1909, stories of his savage temper and autocratic disposition lingered in the folk memory of the museum’s staff’ (Oxford Dictionary of National Biography). Maunde Thompson, who was appointed Principal Librarian in 1888 (subsequently adding the title ‘and Director’) was an autocrat, his severe ideas of indecorous behaviour included failure by senior staff to wear a top hat on Museum premises and the crime by a junior of riding a bicycle in the street. He joined the Museum in 1861 and became Keeper of Manuscripts in 1878. His particular interest in medieval manuscripts is indicated by the volume on the table to his left. He was an energetic director whose aim, according to the ODNB ‘was to consolidate the Museum’s reputation as a great scholarly institution, while making its riches more accessible and intelligible to the public’.
Title
Sir Edward Maunde Thompson (1840–1929), Director and Principal Librarian (1888–1909)
Date
1909
Medium
oil on canvas
Measurements
H 116 x W 91 cm
Accession number
Painting.55
Acquisition method
presented to the sitter by a body of subscribers, and given by the sitter to the British Museum, 1917
Work type
Painting
British Museum
Great Russell Street, London, Greater London WC1B 3DG England
-
Phidias (c.480 BC–c.430 BC) Victoria and Albert Museum -
Apelles Victoria and Albert Museum -
The Triumph of Arts and Letters – Nations of the World Presenting Art and Goods to Britannia as at the Great Exhibition of 1851 Royal Albert Hall -
The Triumph of Arts and Letters – Nations of the World Presenting Art and Goods to Britannia as at the Great Exhibition of 1851 Royal Albert Hall -
Study for 'Nausicaa and Her Maidens Playing at Ball' Royal Holloway, University of London -
On the Terrace Walker Art Gallery -
Head of Saint George Parliamentary Art Collection - 54 more